Christmas Lights Videos
/christmas/videos/2013/ZZZ
2014_12_18_christmas_show-n-tell.mp4
2014_12_22_denver_post_photo_shoot_webcam1.mp4
2014_12_22_denver_post_photo_shoot_webcam2.mp4
2014 Christmas Lights Videos
Older Christmas Videos are in mpeg format and the ones
generated from the webcams have no audio. Typical run times are less than a minute.
2013 Christmas Lights Videos
2012 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 23rd, 2012 - Initial setup of the front yard
- November 28th, 2012 - Putting stuff on the roof and house
- December 2nd, 2012 - Horse Drawn Sleigh goes by webcam2 between 5-7 ... plus
footage from webcam1
- December 5th, 2012 - Santa's Workshop is pretty busy this time of the year! ;-)
- December 9th, 2012 - Watch the XTBM X10 Signal Meter display the power line commands -
10X and
200X realtime.
- December 9th, 2012 - Super Socket blows out - audio explanation - watch zone #4 get stuck ON at 21:52:53 via
webcam1 and
webcam2
- December 11th, 2012 - First snow of the season - a whopping 1/2" ... ;-(
- December 19th, 2012 - Shoveling the driveway and using a broom to clear the lights
- December 21st, 2012 - Moving the inflatables to get in & out of the garage
- Christmas Eve - Internet surfers from around the world control the Christmas Lights as seen by webcam
1 -
2 -
3
- December 25th, 2012 - Shoveling the driveway on a White Christmas ... HO-HO-HO! ;-)
- December 28th, 2012 -
- Taking down Santa's Workshop ... in 7 minutes! ;-)
- December 29th, 2012 -
Taking down the outside decorations in a couple of hours via webcam
1 and
and
2
- Complete 2012 Christmas Season as seen by webcam
1 -
2 -
3
2011 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 21st, 2011 - Initial setup of the front yard
- November 22nd, 2011 - Cutting down a Christmas Tree in the front yard
- December 1st, 2011 - Overnight Snow and then Alek shoveling out the Christmas Decorations and driveway
- December 4th, 2011 - Santa Bubble Lights in action ... buried in snow!
- December 11th, 2011 - Patching the Santa Balloon and everything going ON/OFF/UP/DOWN!
- December 15th,2011 - An example of what the Christmas craziness looks like as seen from webcam
1 -
2 -
3
- December 19th, 2011 - A full day/wide-angle view of the yard and driveway with some snowfall
- December 22nd, 2011 - Digging out the inflatables and lights from a foot+ of snow!
- Christmas Eve - Internet surfers from around the world control the Christmas Lights as seen by webcam
1,
2, and
3
- December 29th, 2011 - Taking down the lights/decorations via webcam
2 and
3 - 2nd half of Santa's Workshop is a bonus feature! ;-)
- Complete 2011 Christmas Season as seen by webcam
1 -
2 -
3
2010 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 17th, 2010 - Tour of the Haunted Halloween basement - SCARY! ;-)
- November 18th, 2010 - Hanging the garage icicles and HULK buckets
- November 19th, 2010 - Testing the inflatables in the back yard - pretty funny and love the ending! ;-)
- November 21st, 2010 - Setting up Christmas stuff on the roof and front lawn via webcam1 and webcam2
- November 26th, 2010 - Creating Santa's Workshop in 30 seconds!!! ;-)
- December 3rd, 2010 - "Hurricane Winds" shake webcam1 and shut down Christmas display
- December 5th, 2010 - "Horse Drawn Sleigh makes multiple passes by the Christmas display
- December 9th, 2010 - Internet surfers from around the world control the Christmas Lights - five hours from webcam
1 -
2 -
3
and one hour from webcam
1 -
2
- December 9th, 2010 - Hi-Def videos from across the street by webcam1:
Santa Skier -
Closeup -
Upper Level -
Santa Heli & Soliciter!
- December 12th, 2010 - Santa's Workshop in Hi-Def!
- Christmas Eve - Internet surfers from around the world control the Christmas Lights as seen by webcam
1,
2, and
3
- December 28th, 2010 - Taking down the lights/decorations via
1 &
2 ... plus HULK deflates!
2009 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 19th, 2009 - Shoveling Snow from the front yard so I can do Christmas setup!
- December 7th, 2009 -
Webcam1 (also at
2x and
8x speed),
Webcam2 (also at
2x and
8x speed), and
Webcam3
- December 10th, 2009 - Winds pick up after Midnight so I bungee the balloon
- December 11th, 2009 - A day via webcam1 and webcam2 plus 17 hour shortie
- December 12th, 2009 - Neighborhood kids on webcam1 and cars on webcam2
- December 15th, 2009 - Fark.Com hammers the X10 controls via webcam1 and webcam2 - also all day footage
- December 23rd, 2009 - Shoveling/sweeping the snow from the driveway
and Christmas display -
part1 and
part2 plus next morning via webcam 1 and 2
- Christmas Eve - Internet surfers from around the world control the Christmas Lights as seen by webcam
1,
2 and
3
- January 1st, 2010 - Some nifty clouds plus my feet on the very top of the house while taking pics and new stuff for 2010! ;-)
- January 2nd, 2010 - Taking down the lights/decorations in Santa's Office, then the house via webcam
1 &
2, and
finally the front yard via webcam
1 &
2
2008 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 19th, 2008 - Setting up the Santa Plane on the roof of the house
- November 21st, 2008 - Initial front yard setup
- November 22nd, 2008 - HO-HO-HO setup ... plus Alek on the roof again
- November 24th, 2008 - Lighted Train, Inflatables, and other misc. on the balcony ... plus the HULK!
- November 29th, 2008 - First snow of the season means I need to shoveling the driveway and sweep the snow off the christmas lights
- December 2nd, 2008 - Setting up Santa's Workshop
- December 4th, 2008 - A typical December evening as seen by webcam
1,
2, and
3 - D'OH! ;-)
- December 9th, 2008 - More snow shoveling as seen by webcam
1 and
2
- December 16th, 2008 - Hoping to win the Nationwide KFC Christmas Contest as seen by webcam
1,
2,
3
- December 22nd, 2008 - WON the Nationwide KFC Christmas Contest as seen by webcam
1,
2,
3 and
Channel2 plus
Sky Fox Heli
FOX says
"Clark Griswold move over - a Lafayette family can now officially lay
claim to the best Christmas Lights Display in the entire country"
- December 24th, 2008 - Lots of Christmas Lights watchers drive by the house to see the display
- January 2nd, 2009 - Taking down the Christmas display
2007 Christmas Lights Videos
- November 16th, 2007 - Setting up Candy Canes, Frosties, and Tree in the front yard
- November 19th, 2007 - Setting up the Christmas Train on the garage roof
- November 24th, 2007 - Watch the moon's shadow move across the front yard
- November 27th, 2007 - Santa's Workshop can be a bit crazy this time of the year! ;-)
- December 3rd, 2007 - Elmo, Frosty, Santa, SpongeBob, and Homer Simpson battle 40+ MPH winds -
webcam1 and
webcam2
- December 4th, 2007 - Morning after repair of the train that almost came off the roof
- December 8th, 2007 - Shoveling Snow on
webcam1 and
webcam2
- December 10th, 2007 - Sweeping the Snow off the giant lighted Christmas tree in the front yard
- December 11th, 2007 - The Burrito Deer (picture) lights the snow on fire! ;-)
- December 11th, 2007 - Denver Post Photo Shoot as captured by webcam
1,
2, &
3
- Christmas Eve - lights/controls on until Midnight as seen by webcam
1,
2 and
3
- January 4th, 2008 - Taking down a few of the christmas decorations - webcam
1 and
2
- Entire 2008 Christmas Season Videos - webcam
1,
2, and
3
2006 Christmas Lights Videos
- October, 2006 - Presentation about WGG and Christmas
- November 17th, 2006 - Bringing the Christmas "stuff" up from the basement (and setting up the lighted train)
- November 20th, 2006 - Setting up the HO HO HO
- November 22nd, 2006 - Trimming my Evergreen to improve the view a bit
- November 22nd, 2006 - Setting up the giant inflatable Santa, Elmo, and Homer Simpson - D'OH! ;-)
- November 23rd, 2006 - Adding stuff to the roof ... and THE HULK!!!
- November 26th, 2006 - Front page of DIGG so I turn the christmas lights on early - webcams 1 - 2 - 3
- November 29th, 2006 - Shoveling Snow on webcam
1 and
2
- December 6th, 2006 -
Updated layout in Santa's Workshop
- December 8th, 2006 -
Webcam2 shows us shooting the family holiday card picture - end result wasn't too shabby! ;-)
- December 9th, 2006 -
Superman Kyle plays with Robosapien in Santa's workshop
- December 10th, 2006 -
Fixing 12' inflatable Santa ... had to drill/saw out a hole for the fan to "breathe"
- December 12th, 2006 - DoubleHeader ServerSlam Digg/Fark Fest until Midnight on webcams
1 -
2 -
3
- December 14th, 2006 -
Reporter Dirk Chimes in - "Stepping Santa drives me CRAZY!" ;-)
- December 20th, 2006 - Controllable Christmas Lights Battle Colorado Blizzard
- Christmas Eve/Day - lights on and controllable all night long!
- Entire 2006 Christmas Season Videos - webcam
1 -
2 -
3
2005 Christmas Lights Videos
Lotsa footage from the three ChristmasCams below - they were even used as a
Santa Tracker
to get some footage of the Big Red Guy! While they webcams have
PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) control, I have not allowed Internet surfers (this year!)
to have access to that. But you will sometimes see the picture "jump" as I
move them around. For reference, the three ChristmasCams are:
1. Across the street looking to the South at most of the house
2. Looks to the North down onto the front lawn
3. Is in Santa's Workshop ... my office! ;-)
There was quite a few entertaining video's in 2004 (see below - my
favorite was the
me up in the ABC News Heli)
and here's a selection from Christmas/2005:
Detailed explanation from Alek of how it is done for real in 2005
Alek's "wardrobe" provided by MajorGeeks.Com ;-)
And if you are the last person on the Internet not to see it,
check out this Computer animated display set to music (3 minutes) by Carson Williams from Mason Ohio.
I don't have the budget to do this level of light control - WOW - great job Carson!
Finally, see the Miller Beer commercial of Carson's lights (30 seconds) ... note the snow on the ground, but none on the streets - my guess is Miller added fake snow for the shot (?)
The folks over at LindsayLights.Com also have a full-on computer control and did their lights set to the same music. Great info
and story about two brothers who also raised a buncha money for charity -
another awesome job!
2004 Christmas Lights Videos
Thanx to tomas316's TIVO, I have the following excerpted video's which are provided under fair use.
From what I can gather, there was quite a bit more TV coverage, especially
when the hoax broke, including CNN Headline News, Good Morning America,
Today Show, etc.
Email Santa if you
have any coverage to contribute.
And here is a 47 second movie of the Christmas Lights in
action with reporting from yours truly! ;-)
2004 Christmas Lights Video after the Wall Street Journal Article
Channel 7 6:00 News correction - love the "oh Alek" at the end ... and here is my two cents on that "Alek did not respond" comment
Channel 9 correction - I love the "big breath" as he starts the story, but very fair correction - nice job guys!
Channel 7 correction from the morning news - now these guys did a MUCH nicer job that the
evening guys the night before - class act guys, heck you even yucked it
up on the air - I bet you were one of the 84% who voted me funny on your
on-line poll!
Plus you correctly said that I "revealed the hoax because it got outa hand"
... how 'bout giving your online guys a holler who (even after correcting my
name in the story 2 hours after you aired), are still showing that the
Wall Street Journal "uncovered the ruse" which is completely incorrect.
Tech TV correction - Chi-Lan has some fun with it (good for her ... and thanx for getting
the name right) as Kevin Pereira grumbles in the background.
Some other misc. movies/videos
While not related to Christmas lights per se, I thought these deserved mentioning.
- 405 the Movie - America Airlines
DC-10 loses engines, has to make emergency landing on 405 Highway.
LAPD clears all traffic ... except for one guy in a pickup ... and one
grandma in her old beater - great 3 minute, 9 MByte clip.
A special thanx to folks who have helped host the video's
I don't like to put movies - along with some
free christmas music
- on my web site, because they tend to be
large and if a lotta people look at 'em, then it slows down the web server.
In 2004, a christmas lights enthusiast named Jason helped host the christmas
videos on his web site when things were crazy ... thanx Jason.
And Jim & Tim over at MajorGeeks.Com
have a
mirror mirror of all of this stuff if the above links are slow - thanx guys!
For 2005, Dominic at Vidahost has
graciousely volunteered to help out. Dominic is a director of
Thermal Degree, a UK-based web
design and hosting company setup by two friends in early 2004.
Vidahost, launched just over one year
ago, is their hosting branch which offers shared and reseller hosting.
Dominic also handled some mirroring of
www.asiantsunamivideos.com,
a collection of video footage from the tsunami of December 2004 which attracted thousands of visitors and nearly 1Gbit/sec of traffic.
In 2006, I ante'ed up the big bucks so I'd have a dedicated
server to handle this stuff! ;-)